HyperOVATION: Continuous Global Auroral Imaging at High Cadence

太阳风与地球磁场的耦合在地球附近的空间环境中产生了一系列的扰动效应。通信、导航、能源生产和分配都可能受到这种空间天气的显著影响。预测可能影响这些技术的干扰的能力取决于对连接的太阳-地球系统的详细知识和理解，包括磁层和电离层之间复杂的耦合过程。后者的一个特别方面是能量在上层大气的沉积，特别是在极光带的高纬度地区。在地磁风暴期间，高层大气的能量以几种方式发生。一种能量来源是高能粒子沿着磁力线沉淀到高层大气中，产生了奇妙的极光，这是太空天气的一种视觉表现。该项目的目的是创建一个工具，以高节奏提供关于过去三十年来极光粒子降水的详细全球信息。与现有的统计降水模式不同，这一新的资源将促进全球动力学的研究以及局部特征的发展。最终，该项目的结果将提高当地对极光降水和相关空间天气影响的预报能力。该项目还追求重要的教育和培训目标。该PI是一名早期职业女性科学家，该项目将为她提供一个极好的机会，在通往成功的独立科研生涯的道路上迈出重要的一步。作为项目的一部分，还将为本科生提供暑期实习机会。该提案的重点是开发一个强大的新工具（HyperOVATION），该工具将结合DMSP降水观测和superMAG全球磁场图，使用基于OVATION-SM的下一代软件生成高节奏（1分钟）的极光椭圆图。其他降水模式（包括OVATION和OVATION- sm）在太阳和地磁参数的大范围内产生降水气候学，因此没有局部细节，与之不同的是，HyperOVATION将吸收局部信息和全球信息，并生成与SuperMAG从磁力计获得的详细模式一致的降水图。这些全球地图将分别为单能量极光、漫射极光、宽带极光和离子极光生成。在模式开发过程中，这个工具将用于回答有关极光降水及其与本地和全球极光流的关系的问题。

The coupling of the solar wind with Earth's magnetic field gives rise to a range of disturbance effects in the space environment near Earth. Communications, navigation and energy production and distribution can be significantly affected by this space weather. The ability to forecast disturbances that may impact these technologies hinges upon detailed knowledge and understanding of the connected Sun-Earth system, including complicated coupling processes between the magnetosphere and ionosphere. A particular aspect of the latter is the deposition of energy in the upper atmosphere, especially at high latitudes in the auroral zone. Energization of the upper atmosphere during geomagnetic storms happens in several ways. One energy source is energetic particles precipitating along magnetic field lines into the upper atmosphere and creating the wonderful auroral displays that are a visual manifestation of space weather. The aim of this project is the creation of a tool to provide detailed global information about the auroral particle precipitation at a high cadence over the last three decades. Unlike existing statistical precipitation models this new resource will facilitate studies of the global dynamics as well as the development of local features. Ultimately, the results of the project will lead to improved local forecasting capabilities for auroral precipitation and associated space weather effects. The project also pursues significant education and training goals. The PI is an early career female scientist and the project will provide her with an excellent opportunity to accomplish an important step on the path towards a successful independent scientific research career. Summer internships for undergraduate students will also be provided as part of the project. The proposal focuses on the development of a powerful new tool (HyperOVATION) which will combine DMSP precipitation observations with superMAG global magnetic field maps to produce high cadence (1 min) maps of the auroral oval using next generation software based on OVATION-SM. Unlike other precipitation models (including OVATION and OVATION-SM) that produce climatologies of precipitation within broad ranges of solar and geomagnetic parameters and thus have no local detail, HyperOVATION will ingest local information as well as global information and produce precipitation maps consistent with the detailed patterns derived from magnetometers by SuperMAG. These global maps will be generated separately for mono-energetic, diffuse, broadband and ion auroras. During the course of the model development, this tool will be used to answer questions about the auroral precipitation and its relationship to the local and global auroral currents.